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w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
gathering for parties. There
is a lot of laughter in her
photographs.
Part of the reason Cam-
eron had such a fabulous
eye for the everyday de-
tails of life on the prairie
could have been because
she didn't grow up in that
environment. You can tell
from her diaries that even
though she and Ewen
were always facing enor-
mous financial difficulties,
she never lost that sense
of adventure and love
for the work that she had
when she first arrived.
And the financial diffi-
culties were almost comi-
cal in their persistence. On top of Ewen having such a bad head
for business, he was perpetually unlucky. Ewen's biggest dream
was a business raising polo ponies, which was probably just as
goofy as it sounds in a place where people didn't play polo. But
several times, he managed to make arrangements with buy-
ers overseas. Each time,
something tragic seemed
to happen. Once Ewen
fell off one of the hors-
es while delivering them
to be shipped, causing a
severe concussion that
might have contributed to
his death decades later.
On his final delivery,
Ewen shipped eighteen
horses, which he met in
London, only to find that
they had not been fed
properly. Six of the eigh-
teen died either on the
way or soon after. Also,
although the buyer was
pleased with the quality of
the remaining horses, the
fact that they had been raised in such open country made them
almost impossible to train for a disciplined sport like polo. So
Ewen had to pay for several months' worth of training.
They lost a lot of money on the deal, which brought a sad end
to their pony business. Even more sadly, the next year Ewen
